by Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran

Synopsis

‘Early Birds’ is a one-act comedy that chronicles the conception and birth of one of Britain’s most popular and enduring TV situation comedies.

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran first met Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke when the girls became two mainstays of Marks and Gran’s hit TV drama, ‘Shine On Harvey Moon’. Linda and Pauline had brilliant rapport and impressive comedy instincts; Laurence and Maurice knew they had what it takes to star in their own show, but not what that show might be.

Four years later, Maurice took his family out for Christmas dinner and saw at the next table two overdressed women, who he thought looked like gangster’s molls. When he saw their husbands, he was almost convinced. The next time he saw Laurence, he recounted this intriguing sighting. Laurence immediately saw the comedy potential and replied: “Linda and Pauline”.

That’s where ‘Early Birds’ begins.

A fast-paced romp, ‘Early Birds’ takes the audience on a journey from the creation of the pilot script, via the battle with the BBC to find a studio, to the outrage generated by the sexually explicit dialogue, especially in the notorious sex-aids party scene – and all this in a pre-watershed show.

On the night of transmission there were so many complaints that ‘Birds of a Feather’ came under imminent threat of cancellation by a Board of Governors terrified of upsetting their TV licence payers. Then the first week’s viewing figures came to the rescue – topping 13 million. Suddenly, the Governors were wondering if there was any chance of a Christmas Special.

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